


Broken Promises

by TheBeastly



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV), The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game), The Walking Dead (Video Games)
Genre: Body horror in chapter two, Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, I'm totally changing the story, M/M, Many oc’s, Much plot, Plot, Some shit goes down in chapter three, There's gonna be romance not with Ben though, You can skip it if it triggers you, You might cry, and you love and protect sweet baby Clem with your fucking life, because i wrote this when I was thirteen, chapter four will make you cry, fucking ocs everywhere, hopefully, im rewriting this from quotev, lee ends up being like a dad to you, reader isnt lee, stay safe and sane babes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2018-09-14 23:28:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9210158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBeastly/pseuds/TheBeastly
Summary: Cassie got bit, and lost her best friend, she cut her hand and got held at gunpoint by an ass and promptly passed out from panic. Follow her on her harrowing journey, because I feel like killing off the characters I love. Legit it's gonna be fucking wild.





	1. Open Scene

**Author's Note:**

> Just an introduction I hope you like it!

Thump. 

Her eyes snapped open and her hands gripped the upholstery of the car she was in, cracked leather seats with the padding showing, whoever had had this car before everything went to shit must not have loved it. She blinked as her body relaxed slightly and released the seat from her death grip, the bindings on her arms catching on the tears in the seats, one coming off completely.

She looked at the corner ragged bite scar on her arm, it'd been almost three weeks since she'd been bit and she had taken to wrapping both her arms and wearing long sleeves to hide it, but she'd lost her jacket in an attempt to try and get some canned food from a corner store, so wrapping would have to do until she could get her hands on a new one. She left the strap of cloth where it was and thought back to the sound that'd woken her up. Whatever was out there couldn't see her, if it was even there.

She'd pitched some curtains made out of some extra shirts she'd cut up and carried around for this purpose in front of the car's windows. Had it just been a bad dream? Did she even dream? She didn't think so, and it was better to be cautious, anyway. She looked around the small car and tried to remember where she's stashed her bag the night before, there really wasn't much space to put anything so where the fuck could it be?

She smacked her forehead and reached under the seat she was on. Yup, there it was wedged between the shit holding the seat up and some trash the person before had tossed under it. She made a face at that, if she'd been lucky enough to have a car she'd've at least treated with some kind of respect. She was sixteen after all, and had been for a month, but her since parents couldn't afford to get her a car before the end of the world then there was no way in hell they were gonna be able to get one now. Assuming they were even alive, of course. But that wasn't going to stop her from looking, even if the rest of the world seemed dead, didn't mean she had to think like it was. Sure the odds were against her but she liked to think that there was at least a little hope left. 

She shook her head, no time to get in an argument with herself now. Her ability to get distracted was probably what was going to get her killed, she really really needed to stop getting lost in her thoughts. 

Thump.

That's why she needed to notice her surroundings more. She scrambled for her machete, hoping whatever this was it was stupid, where the fuck did she put it?! She reached under the seat again, where else could she have put it? Her fingers grasped air so she reached further and let out a hiss as soon as she did. She yanked her hand out from under the seat to see where the blade from said weapon has pressed into her hand and cut the skin, blood was beginning to pool in her palm. It was a ragged cut right across the palm of her left hand. She let out a string of swears at her stupidity and from the pain of the cut. She couldn't afford to harm herself with everything already against her. She didn't have any antibiotics, or anything to keep the wound sterile, and she probably needed stitches. She hit her good hand against seat, and let out another string of swears and dug through her bag for something to wrap around the wound and at least try and keep the cut clean. 

"How could I be so stupid? Seriously, Cassie, straiten the fuck-" she stopped mid rant, stopped rummaging through he bag and froze at the sound of a gun cocking. Whatever was outside thumping around was human. And they heard her. 

Her heart was hammering in her chest, she could barely hear the footsteps on the gravel from the shoulder that the car was parked on. Her good hand slipped into her bag, she was trying to find her gun, she'd ran out of bullets weeks ago, but it was still good at striking fear into people. She felt her fingers touch the cool steel and wrapped her fingers around it, praying whoever was outside that door wouldn't shoot her on sight. She pulled the gun out and slid her back against the door, she aimed it at the door she hoped they'd open first. She tried to keep her breathing steady and quiet, she needed to stay calm. She wiped her hand on her shirt, blood and sweat trailing behind the path her hand took. She let out a small hiss, the sweat mixing in her cut burned like hell. She bit her lip to try to stay quiet as she heard the gravel crunching under the persons feet. Why were they taunting her? They knew she was there, they knew she was human. What were they waiting for?

She heard the click of the door opening and tried to keep breathing, tried to keep the gun steady. She didn't want to die.

So she called out, "Don't open the door, I'm armed and will shoot, I repeat, I am armed and I will shoot."

The voice that called out wasn't like how the bandits in the area talked, he seemed educated and not like a desperate drug addicted mass murdering maniac, "Kenny, what the fuck, put the damn gun down! Are you crazy, she's a kid!"

The voice that replied sounded slightly more southern, more violent if you will, "How the fuck do you know that, Lee? Doesn't sound like a damn kid!"

"Fine then fucking ask!" 

"Hey, how old are you?"

She stopped herself from talking, her gun still trained on the door. How dangerous could they be if they were arguing over whether or not she was a kid? She shook her head and answered them.

"Sixteen, why does it matter?"

"Told you! She's a fucking kid Kenny!"

"Are you fucking crazy? She could be a trap, or bit! Think, Lee! How the fuck could a kid like her survive this fucking long?"

"Doesn't change the fact that she's still a kid! Now put the fucking gun down!"

"She could be lying! For fucks sake, Lee, smarten up!"

"I said put the gun down." Her heart stuttered at the anger in that voice. The absolute intimidation this guy had over the other, he was obviously in charge, what he says goes, don't fight him. 

She heard what sounded like a very big gun hit the ground and the guy who dropped it was grumbling about how he isn't respected. She lowered her gun and wiped the sweat from her good hand down a semi-clean spot on her shirt. 

"Hey," Lee said his voice soft and calm, "you can come out, we won't hurt you," all the previous anger had dissipated almost instantly. His voice made her feel safe, but she knew what kind of freaks were out there. She had heard the rumors the bandits had been passing around about the St. Johns. 

"How do I know? How do I know you're not crazy?" She asked her voice shaking. 

"Look if you just let me open the door I could-"

"No! Don't touch the door!" She shouted as she raised her gun again.

"Okay, okay! Calm down, I won't, but why were you being so loud earlier?" He asked. 

"I cut my hand."

"Lookie there, little girl got a boo-boo, you gonna fix her up, Lee?" 

"Is it bad, are you bleeding?" Lee asked, completely ignoring his bitter friend. 

"Um, yes, but I- I don't need your help, I'm fine."

"Look we have a doctor back at our camp, it's the least we can do to at least fix you up and then send you on your way."

"How do I know that you're not with the bandits? Or from that hell hole, St. John's?"

"Because we've had to deal with our fair share of those exact things and-"

"I'm going to open the door."

"'Bout damn time, we've been out here too damn long."

"Shut the fuck up, Kenny."

"I don't want to! You need to start treating me with some respect!"

"I'll treat you with respect when you stop acting like a goddamn two year old!"

As the two kept bickering she clenched her teeth and despite her best judgment she pulled her bag across her shoulders, crawled forward, yanked the curtain down, pulled the handle and opened the door. She'd have to get the machete later because she couldn't for the life of her risk another slice on her hand, the current one was already causing enough problems, what with these guys hassling her. 

She swung the door open and stepped out of the car tentatively, she spotted the large hunting rifle on the ground a few feet away from the car, that was the gun Kenny had been carrying. She let her eyes study the two men who were arguing in front of her. Kenny was an older looking white man with a well trimmed mustache (pretty well trimmed for the apocalypse anyway), who had a soured and slightly pouty look on his face that resembled a toddler who hadn't gotten what they had wanted. He was arguing with Lee about something to do with no one respecting him. Lee however was almost a complete opposite, he had dark skin and a youthful look about him, but also a weariness that suggested wisdom, with short black hair and an untidy beard, his back was turned to her and she could see the handgun tucked into his waistband. She flinched and shrank back when she spotted the glock. They both turned to look at her and they also shrank back at the sight of her. She glanced down at what they were staring wide-eyed at and she saw that the rest of her wrappings had fallen off and her scabbed bite mark was obviously showing. 

"I told you, I fucking told you! Stupid bitch is bit!" Kenny said, his face scrunching up in horror and rage. Even Lee's face was horror struck. 

Cassie's face contorted with rage at the word 'bitch'. She was anything but a bitch, and she refused to be disrespected. She speedily raised her gun at Kenny and with an icily cold voice said, "Call me that again and it'll be the last thing you say."

Lee whipped around glock pointed right at her. Kenny froze and she could see the fear in his eyes. She felt her rage build and bubble. Never would she ever tolerate that. All she had to do was pull the-

No bullets.

Fuck, she thought, this was a bad idea. But she didn't falter. 

"Tell your friend there to apologize, mister, or he loses his mouth!" 

Lee held his gun level, his face pensive as if weighing the options, but she could see the panic in his eyes, he was afraid. He pursed his lips before looking back at Kenny and sighed, "Apologize."

Kenny's eyes went wide and then narrowed with bitter anger, "No!" 

"Kenny," Lee said his voice hard and sharp, the same tone he'd used earlier to intimidate Kenny, Kenny wasn't having it this time. 

"I said no! She's fucking crazy, and bit, and fucking-"

"Kenny just fucking apologize before you get your goddamn mouth blown off," Lee said exasperated by his friend's insistent resistance. 

Kenny shot Lee a dirty look and grit his teeth and hissed out an apology. Cassie dropped her aim and tucked her gun in her pants. 

"Good."

Lee's gaze didn't change, didn't even begin to break, but he slightly lowered his gun, testing the waters to see if Cassie would snap again. She looked him up and down trying to see why he was still weary.

"I put my gun up, it's kinda rude to keep yours trained on me," Cassie said, stretching her arms up and quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Fuck that, what's that on your arm?"

"The fuck's it look like, Lee?" Kenny spat. 

"Shut the fuck up Kenny, now answer me!" Lee said his voice even and controlled, his eyes and hard and ready to shoot. What had she gotten herself into?

Cassie held her arms up defensively, and slightly frightened, she'd fucked up- how could she be so stupid?! She blinked and swallowed, trying to figure out what to say. 

"I said," Lee cocked his gun mid sentence to emphasize and took a step closer to her, "answer me."

Even Kenny had fallen silent, they'd never believe her. She was basically dead, done for, hopeless. She felt hot tears prick the back of her eyes, and she flinched when a high squeaky voice filled her ears, the voice of a desperate girl.

"Three weeks."

Lee's eyebrows furrowed. 

"What?"

She took a shaky breath, her nerves tingling up and down her arms, like tiny dull knives tracing her skin, poised to slice and kill, she felt moments away from death, but at the same time the adrenaline that was burning through her veins made her feel the most alive she'd felt since the bite. She felt one tear fall. 

"It's been three weeks since the bite," She said blinking hard, and trying to keep her breath steady. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop from sobbing and tasted iron, she let out a shaky breath that sounded more like a sob then a breath and cursed herself for her weakness, "I should be fucking dead, walking around half-rotted, right?"

"Bullshit!" Kenny growled, his fists clenched and white, his face furious. 

"Then why am I still breathing?! Why is my bite scabbed over and already healed in some places?! Why the fuck am I alive when she's dead?!" She yelled at him, her head spinning and dots sprinkling her vision. She felt her vision blur and the gravel on her knees, but it was distant, like she wasn't really feeling anything.

"I don't know, but it's not fucking possible!" He shouted back, but she felt like she was underwater, everything was distorted and muted and her eyes were fuzzy. She couldn't see. Couldn't breathe. 

"Well wake up and smell the blood asshole," She whispered, but her lips were numb and all she could think was how her mouth tasted like the blood from where she bit her cheek. How stupid she felt for being weak. 

Stupid, weak, bitch.


	2. You Can’t Catch Me

She couldn't see.

She knew her eyes were open, because she blinked and still couldn't see through the inky darkness that was enveloping her.

She couldn't see, but she could feel.

She felt like she was flying through the air. The wind was whistling past her filling her ears with its carnivorous howls.

She was flying- not falling.

She could feel the ropes that were holding her up slither around her wrists, ankles, and abdomen, as if they were alive. Her ropes weren't a restricting, sand papery prison but rather a silky support system. She wasn't bound in place; she was held up in an effort of protection.

She couldn't see, but she could feel.

She could feel the cold stone floor beneath her.

She couldn't hear, but she knew.

The stones called out to her, ready to catch her when her her support system gave up on her. When her ropes decided she wasn't worth holding. The call of the stones made her body heavy, and she screamed as she began to slip from her ropes. However her ropes retaliated and pulled taut against her in an effort to keep her safe.

She couldn't hear, but she cried out.

The wind came and kissed her. The wind stole her fear from her lips, but not from her mind screamed again when she could feel her ropes tighten into her wrists ankles. She felt the ropes biting her as she was pulled down by the rocks. She could feel her ribs bending outward while the stones and ropes battled over her body.

She screamed once more, and she could hear.

She could hear her bones creaking and popping out of place. She could hear the ropes hissing and straining to hold her. She could hear the stones singing far below her. She could hear the scream of a young man trapped in her lungs. She could hear the sickening fear, the sheer panic, the ragged pain in his scream.

She couldn't feel his pain though.

She felt pressure but no pain.

She couldn’t think.

She could hear the ropes beginning to tear.

She continued to scream in his voice.

She felt the ropes snap.

She felt the wind bite her in place of the ropes.

She felt the song of the stones rattle her shattered bones.

The pain began when she hit the wet stones.

A sharp and sudden stab in her chest.

Then it spread. 


	3. Heavy Lunch with a Headache

Move out of the way and let me take the shot!" Cassie could feel rope digging into her ankles and more rope sliding around her already stinging wrists.

"No, Kenny, you can't just shoot her, she's-" Where was she? Why are people shouting? Her throat was burning and her whole body was aching.

"She's fixin' to turn, you can see the damn bite!" Now that she thinks about it her arm itches. She lets out a low moan. Her eyes refused to open and all of her muscles screamed. Why won't they please settle down? Why does everything hurt so badly?

"That's why we're tying her up! But I mean if you'd prefer to drop a fucking salt block on her-" 

"Could you two shut the fuck up for maybe ten seconds?" That was the bearded man from before's voice. The picture of him aiming his handgun at her had ice racing through her veins. She pulled as hard as she could against the stinging rope around her wrists. She had no idea if they were like the St. John's. She'd heard the stories of people being forced to eat their own friends and families, she could feel bile dragging it's way up her parched throat from her empty stomach at the thought of that hellish place.

"Fuck you, Lee, I shoulda done it sooner than I did, that old fuck had it coming for weeks!" She pulled against the ropes again in a blind panic only to have them tighten painfully, a whimper drawing from her lips. She heard the bearded man's calm tone talking softly to her, but the blind panic wrapped its way around her brain and filled her ears with a loud buzzing that only the violent shouting could slice through, and blocked out anything he could possibly be saying to comfort her. All she could hear was the mounting argument between her captors.

"You sick fuck-" 

"Lily, don't!"

"Get the fuck off of me, Ben!"

Cassie's eyes snapped open and halted her measly attempt at escaping at the scene in front of her. The angry mustachio'd man who'd threatened to shoot her before- Kenny- was bowed up to a lady with being held back by a tall, skinny, guy. The guy couldn't be any older than her and he quite frankly looked like he was about to shit himself. He obviously had the upper hand in the situation, what with him not struggling too hard to restrain the wild woman crushed against his chest, his arms locking her against him as she practically convulsed with livid rage and writhed with a pain that Cassie knew all too well. Heartbreak. What the fuck had they done to her? Kenny's teeth were bared and his nostrils were flaring, his shotgun gripped in his left hand, knuckles white. His chest heaved rapidly and a sick grin tugged at the edges of his mouth. Her hair was falling from the ponytail that seemed to be trying to restrain it, the loose hairs fanning themselves out in the form of an insanity fueled halo. She was screaming profanities so fast and intensely that she seemed to be foaming at the mouth, and tears streamed down her face. She seemed almost as wild as Cassie in that moment, and the bound girl couldn't help but feel compassion for this utterly broken woman.

"U-uh, K-kenny?" The tall, skinny, boy in a letterman said, shaking like a leaf, the panic evident in his voice, however his iron grip on the woman didn't falter in the slightest. His pale eyes, however, were locked onto Cassie's pleading ones. She was searching his face for any hint of mercy, anything she could use to her advantage, anything she could appeal to in order to attempt to get out of this situation alive. Anything at all. She saw his fear and knew she could use that.

Cassie let out a gasp and a choked cry as the rope sliding around her wrists pulled even tighter than before and strangled her skin, she'd have deep purple bruises later. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lee (how she'd retained his name above all she'll probably never know) sprint from behind her.

"You heard the bitch! Let her loose! Let her try and fuckin'-" Kenny spat out, just before Lee launched himself onto him from behind. Lee slammed all of his weight onto the mustachioed man's side which knocked his gun right at Cassie's feet and knocked him into wall, which left a thin Kenny sized dent in the already poorly taken care of, rotted, drywall.There was a loud thunk when Kenny's head connected with the wall and then he crumpled to the ground, his mouth hanging open slightly. He let a strained groan and then shifted before going completely still. A red stain started to seep through the left side of the already filthy shirt he had on. Lee was struggling to stand up, but that body slam had seemed to have drained him. Dear god how starved were these people? 

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck-fuck, fuck!" The boy swore loudly. Her eyes were glued to the angry growing stain on the filthy shirt.

"Holy fuck." Cassie whispered. Did lee fucking stab him? This group was on it's last leg and she'd better find a way to split from it as soon as possible if she made it out alive. 

"Shut. Up. Ben. Go get Katjaa, he ripped his stitches." Lee barked out, still obviously dazed.

Before the boy could respond the woman ripped her way out of the boy's arms and threw herself towards Lee, who had just managed to stand. Or at least that's what Cassie assumed the woman was doing. She didn't realize the woman had snatched the gun from her feet until she knocked against Lee and raised the shotgun at Kenny's broken form and made the small stain on his shirt much messier. 

Lee didn't move from the spot where Lily had knocked him on the ground until the second shot painted Kenny's face across the wall behind him, and her hands were busy fumbling with the reload chamber. Cassie couldn't tell if Lily was shaking or if it was her own body, but when gun was ripped from Lily's hands and the butt was bashed across her face she knew how this group reacted to mutiny. Lee's face was hard and cold when he exited the room with a rough spit of curses saying to stay put and "watch the girl". The boy from earlier was vomiting in the corner, sobbing swears between wretches, his heaves loud and jagged. Cassie could feel a scream in the back of her throat, stinging the cracked dry surface, begging to crawl past her teeth or her chest would explode, but the all too familiar metallic tang in her nostrils threw her to the moment she'd became the same as this woman. The moment she'd lost her humanity in the swells of heartbreak.

-

The cement beneath her knees were wet and slimy, from god knows who's blood and god know's what's innards. She could barely feel her own skin beneath the dirt and zombie guts that had accumulated over the past month and a half. She knew that both she and the ground were filthy, but she couldn't help but hate the feeling of germs crawling against her skin. She could practically hear Gwen’s high pitched caterwaul.

“Your such a pussy!”

“Oh no! The Barbie got her knees dirty, you’d think she'd be used to that by now!”

“She looks like a drowned cat anyway, makes no sense, maybe she’s psychotic.”

She shifted on the damp ground when the early October wind blew through the broken front windows of the store she was stationed in and across her nose. The glass glittered across the floor and twinkled out on in the sun where it was littered the street, and she couldn't suppress the shiver that followed. Her jacket was shredded from the amount of close calls with walkers and one messy encounter with a barbed wire fence. Plus it smelled awful. She’d been complaining about it to Annie when the son of the leader, a rat faced boy with messy blond hair named Randy (who quite frankly smelled like urine) had offered his. Cassie had shrunken away while Annie convinced him to keep his jacket for his own health. Cassie was frightened of this boy, he was constantly offering parts of his rations with her and always chatting her up. She had to admit he wasn’t bad company despite his poor hygiene. However she’d seen the bruises up and down his arms when he’d tried it hand her his equally ratty jacket. She knew his father was a cruel man, but she knew she didn’t want to be involved with him. It’d only make her more of a target. She knew how these kinds of people worked. She’d grown up with a mean grandfather looming over her and her mother, his breath wreaking of whisky or bourbon.

A bird shifted on one of the non-functional power lines running through the square. Her extremities were numb and her shoulder was aching from the position of her short arms wrapped awkwardly around the bulky rifle. Her breath billowed around her and the scope fogged up any time she pulled back to blink. She'd been stationed in the store to keep any bandits away from where her group was hiding their food stash. They'd only just scored some canned goods and meds from a house in the suburbs outside of Macon, and were rationing this between the six of them. Other than Annie, Cassie didn't know these people nor did she trust them, they were ruthless and there were stories of these people killing any lone survivors that had something they wanted. She'd already witnessed it once in the two weeks they'd been with these brutes. It'd had been the young woman with the pencil skirt from the radio station. She'd had a gun and some meds on her to trade with, when their leader, Badger, had decided her prices were too steep he'd only traded a bullet for her whole stash. Cassie brushed her sweaty palms against her grungy jeans, and swallowed. Everything was too quiet. He’d almost done the same to her and Annie, but Annie had managed to charm him into giving them a mattress to share in the back of the church the group had been using as a base, she'd said that they were good scavengers and that they could hold their weight. But Cassie wasn’t dumb, she’d noticed that Annie slipped from their bed in the middle of the night, and into Badger’s “office”. The thought of Annie beneath the hands of that brute made her fits clench until crescent shaped marks were pressed into her palms and the hair of her neck stand up straight.

Annie was a petite girl with bright eyes, broad shoulders, and the brightest smile in the world. She had ability to charm anyone or anything. That was one of the reasons Cassie'd always stuck to her side like glue. The gorgeous girl had taken care of her since they were in their early teens. Annie had rescued Cassie from bullies, creepy boys, overbearing teachers, the death of a parent, and most importantly herself. She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face at the thought of her dark hair falling in her face, her face red and her eyes shining. Annie was Cassie's shining light in this hellscape and she'd've given her life before she'd let someone take her. Cassie let out a sigh while the bird hopped up and down the line, searching for food probably. Annie always had a soft voice and warm smile to offer, even amongst all the violence and horror she managed to radiate bravery and beauty. Even when all Cassie did was take. 

That was one of the things that scared Cassie the most, was the fact that people could see that light and fight to take it. The emerging powers in this new reality were people of violence and anarchy. She was afraid she'd see Annie adapt or die, both thoughts terrified her to her core. 

The sound of a piercing scream and Cassie flinch back and lose her balance. She lost her grip on the rifle, but caught herself with her hands. She barely registered the sting of tiny glass shards pricking her skin, she'd walked off way worse so she simply didn't acknowledge it. She pushed off the ground and snatched her rifle from where she'd flung it. If someone was hurt it probably meant bandits weren't too far behind. They were like vulture scavenging any codeine they could find and anything to barter for that codeine. She brushed her hands off on her shredded jacket and winced when it left thin smears of red on the fabric. The glass from the windows crunched under her shoes. She had to be cautious, one wrong foot and she'd be walker guts. 

The sound of sobbing and Badger's voice made her blood run cold.


	4. Stained Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some very graphic shit goes down. Like this is some wild shit. The plot only gets more off canon from here and I’m just so damn proud of what I’ve got in store with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GORE WARNING PLEASE BE WARNED THIS IS A VERY VIOLENT STORY AND YES I AM STILL WORKING ON IT.

“I swear to god, I’m not a murderer.” Lee had tied her to a chair. Lilly couldn’t do anything but whine and struggle against the torn strips of bedsheet keeping her tethered to her chair.

“I’m not the murderer, do you know what he did?”

Lily was mostly silent, but Cassie was sick of when she wasn’t. Cassie was sick of the woman’s justifications. Cassie was sick of people losing control. Cassie was sick of the whine in this woman’s voice when she’d begin talking, only for her to end in a high pitched hysterical sob. She was sick of seeing the bruises that formed from the violence of the vagrants that walked this godforsaken hell of an earth. Sick of the sticky blood and the slimy remains that coated her ragged clothes. She was sick to death of the stench of vomit, and decay, and death that followed every living soul. She was so sick she wanted to scream, but her mouth was cemented shut by the fear clawing it’s way up her throat. If she started talking they’d find out what she was like. She could feel the thoughts pounding against her skull. The screams, the sobs, the blood. They’d place judgment on her and decide whether her life was worth living. She wouldn’t let them judge her. Cassie didn’t care if the crazy woman was a murderer or not. She didn’t care if she was a murderer or not. She just wanted the woman to stop talking with her broken face, and just shut the fuck up. The static in her ears was enough.

“He dropped a salt block on my father’s head, without asking anyone, he murdered my dad!” 

“It had to have been Kenny, he’s the only one who would even think to take it everyone else is obviously not high and he got fucking shot and he’s just been walking around like he’s fine!”

Cassie couldn’t stomach to listen to anymore of her grief fueled blabbering. So she let the static fill her ears until she couldn’t hear or see anything. She didn’t see Lee walk back in the door. She didn’t see him step over the vomit in front of the door. She didn’t see him walk past the the chunks of his best friend splayed against the wall. She didn’t see or hear the violent exchange of words flying from the lips of two very passionate people who were both murderers. She didn’t know that Lee had fallen off the same edge he slipped off of when he killed that senator, and when he impaled Danny on that pitchfork. She didn’t know that Lee had walked in that room with intent to murder Lily if she didn’t give a good reason not to. So she had no idea that when a collection of words were spit from the bloody mouth of a broken bitter woman that Lee decided there was nothing Lily could say to redeem her. Cassie simply let the static fill her ears until the sound of a gunshot and a wet splatter against her face forced her back to reality. 

-

Lee had stormed back into the room and shoved the vomiting boy out of it before he slammed and locked the door. His eyes were hard and his jaw ticking in a frightening way. She could feel the filth on her skin itch as she watched his muscles coil like a panther’s. She watched as he hesitated when his eyes landed on the bloody remains of his group members face, Cassie saw the way his shoulders dropped a little and how he deflated a micro-fraction, she saw the pain squeezing his muscles and the tendrils of darkness that weaved through them. He bent down and grabbed the hat laying just past what remained of Kenny’s head. Cassie could feel her chest aching from the pressure of her trapped words. She could feel hot tears prick her eyes. She wanted to comfort him. With the hat fastened to one of his belt loops he’d turned around and finally looked at her with that angry, broken look in his eyes. She recognized those eyes, and her empathy shifted to sharp, heavy, and icy, fear in her gut. She was frozen until his gaze slipped from her down to the unconscious form of Lily

 

She’d lost the few words she’d had when a plump woman had barreled into the room, her voice shredded like a piece of wet paper. This was before the vomiting boy and a sturdy built man had dragged as much of Kenny out of the room as possible.

“Mom?”

There had been a young boy who was the spitting image of Kenny standing in the jarred door, his face was slack and the skin around his mouth green. He looked right past the disheveled and battered red head and couldn’t tear his eyes from the remains of his father. He couldn’t have been more than ten, the thought made Cassie want to sob, but still the anxiety clawed at her throat after seeing how easy it was for this group to snap on the people they loved let alone on strangers. He was so young, his large doe eyes wide and obviously stained with the sight of the scene in front of him. The plump woman, Katjaa, was still keening at the body of her dead husband, her hands stained with her love’s blood, tears and snot streaming down her face. He took a step forward, and mouthed his previous word. His face had contorted like he wanted to cry, but his eyes were wide and unblinking. His lips trembled with thoughts of words flying through his head at top speed. The things he’d wished he could say to his dad, or things he could say to comfort his mother, but there were none. When you see something that horrible and earth shattering there’s no way words can help. So they pile up and stop any words from coming out at all. Just in case what you think is helping is only more damaging. Cassie knew this well, and could clearly see the blue smoke of insecurity clouding the air around the boy. She too had lost her words when her world had fallen apart. The small boy’s knee’s buckled when he started to step forward again, but Lee picked him up and carried him out of the room before hysteria could overtake his frail frame. He seemed like his body might break as soon as Lee tossed him over his shoulder, even though he was carried away his eyes never left the body sprayed against the wall, and his mind would never forget the way it looked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup. Poor little ducky. Also those characters from chapter 3 come back into play and everything happens for a reason. I will be rewriting the first chapter because it no longer fits into the plot I have planned but I will post it as a one shot separately and it should be fixed eventually. But yeah I have plot details planned all the way to season 2 and a little farther. Yes I did pull badger from season 3 into the story because I want him to be a looming antagonist for even longer than just a season so so can very much take my anger out on him when we get to that part of the plot. Ooooooooh immmmmm excitedddddddd.


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